Peppermint Kisses
by Obscurite-Asile
Summary: Percy is struggling having Christmas without his family. When his flatmate, and the one he loves tries to cheer him up can Percy have a Happy Christmas after all?


It was Percys first Christmas since his big fight with his family. Usually, he loved Christmas even though he never really got anything. With six brothers and sisters, his family could never afford good anything for Christmas. It was just small cheap things plus the yearly sweater their mother knitted. It was just, his family was always happy then. They would all go back from Hogwarts to be greeted by Bill and Charlie. Fred and George would be telling jokes and planning new inventions to experiment. He had heard that they opened the shop after they ran away from school. Sounds about right, but Percy wasn't planning on going any time soon. Molly would be busy cooking and Arthur would have been returning from work. Even at work Percy hadn't seen Arthur as much and when they did they only spoke of work business. Nothing about how the family was, or even Harry. Arthur tried to make some discussion happen but Percy never let it happen. While he was a little depressed about the whole thing, he tried to think of the positive. It wasn't like his usual self but maybe if he just fooled himself into thinking everything was in fact alright. The only place to start was by decorating the flat.

"You know, you're suffocating that tree" Percys' flatmate said in his thick cockney accent in amusement. His mouth was stuffed with popcorn too, so the average people would have had no idea what the man was saying. Yet, as Percy was used to it he could understand it all. The tree was covered in tinsel, baubles, candycanes and other random Christmas ornaments. Percy frowned at his room mate.

"No Stan, look at it. It's basically naked" Percy replied with a sigh of agitation. He pushed passed the munching man to get to another box of decoration. Stan Shunpike swallowed his popcorn loudly.

"Oi, what's your problem" he asked, obviously annoyed at Percys behaviour. The two had gotten very close since Stan found him basically living on the Knight bus. Stan offered him a place to stay until he was back on his feet. For about two months Percy had been back on his feet, was able to afford a place of his own. Yet, he just didn't want to move out. Secretly, he liked it with Stan. Even though the place was always a mess and was in worse shape then the burrow, Percy liked it. Most of the time he was in the flat was when Stan was at work. Then as soon as Percy was ready to go off to work, Stan was staggering home after his late night shift. There were a few days though, mainly around the Christmas holidays when Percy did not have to show up for work. While he could have showed up anyway, he decided not to as he wanted to spend more time with Stan. The two did not see a lot of each other most of the time but when they did, Percy was just happy. It was very odd for him, but he loved it. He loved Stan. Hell, he couldn't believe it himself but it was true. When they were at work, his thoughts would always end up thinking about Stan. Was he awake yet? How wasted was he? Did he meet any of those scary characters on his last shift? What if he got hurt? Usually, he ended up calling Stan just to make sure he was still alive. While most people would find this odd Stan liked it. He claimed it was cute to have someone worry about him like that. Stan could tell when there was something wrong with Percy and that was usually most of the time.

"Nothing" Percy lied, picking up the box and searching for a gold star to finish the tree off. He hoped Stan wouldn't ask about it but knowing Stan, he wasn't going to stop until he got an answer.

"It's your family, ain't it" Stan asked. Percy paused for a second, not wanting to think about his family. They were probably all in the burrow, drinking hot chocolates and having fun. Well, why wouldn't they? It was Christmas after all. He slowly nodded, avoiding contact with Stan.

"Well, kinda. I've just been thinking about them a lot" Percy mumbled back. "You know, Christmas and everything" he chuckled awkwardly.

"Yeah, I kinda gathered that" Stan replied, sitting on the old tattered sofa of his. Another odd thing about Stan is once he found out what was wrong, he didn't insist any more questions. Somehow this made it easier to talk to him. "I find it quite funny how most people connect Christmas with family" he stated, more to himself then Percy. Looking away from his box and over to Stan, crooking his head slightly out of interest.

"Well, what do you associate Christmas with?" he asked curiously.

"You know, spoiled brats begging for lardy dardy fancy toys" Stan responded in an attempted posh accent. Percy chuckled and shook his head, putting the box back was probably looking in the wrong box. That was why he couldn't find a star. In November Percy went out and bought Christmas materials. He was kind of happy that he still had most of them as he expected they would have all vanished. "Toss me one of those sticky hooks, will you?" Stan insisted. It took Percy a week to figure out that Stan referred to the candycanes as sticky hooks. Stan was quite an odd man. Taking one of the candy canes from the Christmas tree, Percy threw it at Stan. As always, he caught it perfectly in his mouth.

"But that's not what Christmas is all about. It's about family" Percy explained. "It's about being with those you love" he added softly, a little embarrassed. Stan was only half paying attention as he was busy trying to unwrap the candy cane. He moved so his head was resting on one part of the couch while his feet were on the other side.

"Stupid plastic. Maybe they should get those muggles to reinforce Gringotts" he muttered angrily. "You should tell that brother of that yours. Save 'em millions" Percy rolled his eyes and was turned back so he could continue searching for the star when Stan added "Guess this will be my first Christmas to celebrate then". Pausing, Percys heart skipped a beat. He looked back and saw that Stan had freed the trapped candycane and had started sucking on it.

"Pardon?" he asked, guessing he misunderstood Stan but hoping he didn't.

"Well, my family weren't that great. We never celebrated Christmas anyway. Unlike yours, we weren't vey close" Stan explained, looking up at the ceiling. There were drops of rain coming through and one landed on top of his nose. "And I wasn't very popular in school believe it or not so I didn't even have any friends. You're the first one who I've met that cares for all this Christmas junk" Percy deflated a little.

"Oh" he muttered. "Well, I guess that's good for me then" he replied with a shrug. "I never really had any friends either. Apparently I'm too uptight believe it or not" he muttered with a small smile.

"No!" Stan remarked sarcastically. "Whoever said these ludicrous lies about you? The won't be allowed on the bus anymore, let me tell you that. Never!"

"But, how will you get paid then?" Percy asked innocently, crooking his head as if he was child. It resulted in being hit in the head by a cushion. Stan started to laugh as Percy stood there.

"Oh, that's it" he stated before jumping onto Stan. It was something he used to do with the twins when they annoyed him, which was at least every second day. Even though he did not look it, Percy was able to put a lot of pressure on someone when he wanted to. Stan continued to laugh as he tried to push Percy off but failed in doing so at first. Stan spat the candy cane out as he would have chocked on it otherwise. It went to the back of the couch, with other objects Percy didn't want to know of.

"Get off me" Stan tried to get out, making Percy laugh. He didn't budge but after a few moments, he was pushed onto the floor, followed by Stan. Stan landed right on top of him. They were in a giggling fit as they looked into each others eyes, their breathing finally starting to slow down. Stan made the first move and lightly pressed his lips down onto Percy's. The pimply nose pressed against the clear one as Percy kissed back. Stan tasted like peppermint from the candy cane.

"Merry Christmas Stan"

"Merry Christmas Percy"


End file.
